Statement of CECC Cochairman Sherrod Brown on the 22nd Anniversary of the Chinese Government's Violent Suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Democracy Protests

Statement of CECC Cochairman Sherrod Brown on the 22nd Anniversary of the Chinese Government's Violent Suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Democracy Protests

June 3, 2011

(Washington, DC)—It has been 22 years since the Chinese government violently suppressed the Chinese people’s wishes for democracy and freedom in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 3 and 4, 1989. Chinese citizens from all walks of life peacefully demonstrated in Beijing and throughout China for political reform, respect for universal freedoms of speech and assembly, and an end to government corruption. In response, the Chinese government ordered the People’s Liberation Army to put down the demonstrations and to clear the Square by force―lethal force. Estimates of those killed ranged from the hundreds to the thousands, with many more injured and arrested. The Chinese government has suppressed media and online discussion of Tiananmen, denying the Chinese people their right to know and to demand accountability for what happened. More than two decades later, the Chinese people continue to desire freedom and universal human rights, only to be denied them by the Chinese government. In recent months, Chinese officials launched one of the harshest crackdowns in years against rights defenders, reform advocates, lawyers, petitioners, writers, artists, and Internet bloggers. Those targeted include citizens who support democracy and freedom and who advocated on behalf of victims of earthquakes, disease, and tainted food, and child laborers, persecuted religious groups, and political dissidents. These courageous citizens deserve our support and I urge the Chinese government to cease harassing, detaining, and “disappearing” such citizens, and to release those detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of speech and assembly. I urge the Chinese government to end the harassment and detention of and discrimination against those involved in the 1989 protests and their families, permit Chinese citizens to freely commemorate and share information about Tiananmen, and provide a full public accounting of the government’s actions in 1989. Under China’s international human rights commitments and under Chinese law, Chinese citizens are entitled to the universal freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and religion. The Chinese government should ensure the protection of these rights for which Chinese citizens have struggled for so long, and which they, like all people, so richly deserve.